Torin Alter

University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa, Philosophy, Faculty Member

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Russellian Monism and Mental Causation

by Torin Alter and Sam Coleman

Nous, 2019

According to Russellian monism, consciousness is constituted at least partly by quiddities: intri... more According to Russellian monism, consciousness is constituted at least partly by quiddities: intrinsic properties that categorically ground dispositional properties described by fundamental physics. If the theory is true, then consciousness and such dispositional properties are closely connected. But how closely? The contingency thesis says that the connection is contingent. For example, on this thesis the dispositional property associated with negative charge might have been categorically grounded by a quiddity that is distinct from the one that actually grounds it. Some argue that Russellian monism entails the contingency thesis and that this winds up making its consciousness-constituting quiddities epiphenomenal—a disastrous outcome for a theory that is motivated partly by its prospects for integrating consciousness into physical causation. We consider two versions of that argument, a generic version and an intriguing version developed by Robert J. Howell, which he bases on Jaegwon Kim’s well-known “exclusion argument.” We argue that neither succeeds.

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Panpsychism and Russellian Monism

by Torin Alter and Sam Coleman

Routledge Companion to Panpsychism, 2019

According to Russellian panpsychism, familiar conscious experiences are constituted by phenomenal... more According to Russellian panpsychism, familiar conscious experiences are constituted by phenomenal properties that categorically ground dispositional properties posited by fundamental physics. In this entry, we discuss two challenges to that theory: that it fails to adequately integrate consciousness into physical causation (Howell 2015); and that its alleged advantages over traditional dualist and traditional physicalist theories are illusory (Kind 2015). We argue that neither challenge is insurmountable.

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